I Found You: Remastered
by AliceUchihaLockwood
Summary: It's been a week after that fight against Maximus. Alice regained all her strength and her friendship with Flint couldn't be in a better place, but after finding out she had to leave for a few months, problems seems to lurk behind them. Can Alice return before it's too late? Sequel to Crossed Roads: Remastered.
1. Obnoxious Encounter

**Author's Note**: Ah, yes another thing that urgently needs to be redone. As this is a crossover and I'm to the fucking top of everything irl, I might take a while to end this entire thing and maybe it won't be that long like Crossed Roads was (but knowing myself, who really knows?).

Also, this story might be a bit more focused on Alice so... :)

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**Disclaimer**: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.  
Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Pierrot Studios.  
The respective OC's belongs to me.

* * *

_What is it about them?_  
_I must be missing something_  
_They just keep doing nothing_  
_Too intoxicated to be scared_

_Xanny - Billie Eilish_

_..._

People should be more careful who they piss off. How far can you go while your sanity swings?

It's been a crazy week since the fight against Maximus Panther happened and shook the world of the town of Swallow Falls at making them see how they weren't alone in the universe; they all decided that the best was pretend that nothing happened at all and none of it actually matters.

On the bright side, for Alice, the rest of the kids of the town actually liked her more knowing about her powers as she was like an actual superhero who saw the wonders of the world. She got to socialize a bit more with everybody else as well.

Cal and Cassie were freaking when they heard her story, with the first one rambling stupidly about how "The best superheroes always starts with a tragic story of origins!"

"I'm not a superhero..." The girl said shyly.

"Yeah, you're right… for now." She rolled her eyes in response.

Brent, Henry and Alex stopped teasing Flint after everything that happened – it was unclear to say if it was because they were afraid of Alice or if they were afraid of Tim, in either way, whenever they passed next to him they didn't say a thing at all, just a little stare, then they walked away. Sometimes it made him feel afraid that they _could _be plotting his downfall in response, his little friend was the one who always was there to calm him down and put his head right into place.

For a couple of days she also became the "errand girl", with some of the town folks asking them to get some supplies from the mainland as she could fly from here to there and had superhuman strength. It first started when some things ended at the Lockwood's house, she went to New York – always careful enough to not be seen flying, coming back with groceries, then the Devereaux family asking for supplies as well – Regina (also known as Earl's wife) even promised her that her husband would bake her some sweets if she did, a lot for the dismay of the officer, and good lord, his sweets were the best thing she could ever, _**EVER**_ taste in her life.

"One day my angel son Cal will bake like me!" He proudly said at the same time she detected some shame in his voice, knowing that he probably felt awkward at showing his skills. Ironical from someone as fitness as him, right?

His son didn't seem that thrilled until Cassie showed him a bill, like saying "money" silently. He instantly changed his mind cracking up some chuckles from the family and making her two friends stare at them…

Clearly, when the rest of the neighborhood got the smell of _real _food asides of sardines, none of them hesitated on giving their money to her, offering whatever they had for some supplies and a list of what they needed. It first overwhelmed her, feeling a heavy weight on her shoulders at the point Tim had to wear them away from her to have a break; it was new for her, so many people counting on her and… well, she didn't have an idea of what to do.

For the first couple of hours she just looked at every single piece of paper given to her plus their money. There was stress, confusion, a bunch of mixed thoughts and feelings…

"You don't have to do this, Al..." Flint said rubbing her shoulders from behind, to then wrap his arms around her to comfort her, "This is not your responsibility."

"They're counting on me…" She said in a low voice, "I don't want to disappoint them either..."

He didn't say anything else.

Using her backspace ability she reformed one of the old, rusty containers around the cannery, still for the amazement of the inventor, she was strong enough to lift it up and carry it. They went there together – with him inside the container… she found a place to land and leave the cage unnoticed, they went to every single store they could to get everything they needed, separating the change left of every folk in their respective list and going back by sunset. Tim left them clear to not abuse of her kindness and to not become a habit, she still felt glad to have been able to help them out with what she could, now sharing Flint's desire to do more to improve their lives.

Now she was in her room resting, looking at the ceiling while playing some music on earbuds from Flint's super MP3 Player (even he was amazed that it didn't explode yet like his phone), by one side happy to have become part of the Lockwood family and for being able to get along with her new best friend and the rest of the kids around the town who saw her, just like Cal, as a superhero... from the other side...

Well, first of all there was a phone she brought that survived the fall when she first arrived to the island, while she was brand more calm, doodling some random stuff on paper like her friend used to when he was a child, already playing music, not having thought about her home for days and even less what happened with her father before she arrived… the thought of that, how he treated her like a beast already ruined her mood.

It worsened when she got a call…

"Hello?" She picked up. It could be her mom, she didn't check the ID.

_"___**Sharotto?**___"_

She went straight up pale when she heard that voice. It was her father calling. For a long while she stopped breathing, tears threatening to get out of her face… he repeated her saiyan name, she hung up clenching her other hand.

"Motherfucker…!" She growled with clenched teeth.

Her phone rang again, Alice looked at it with tears stuck in her eyes, she was raging, cursing that it was her father, the one who almost drove her insane with so many things, who humiliated her, pushing her sanity to a breaking point and even more after he locked her down with extreme measures under the palace. Her phone turned off a few seconds, then it rang again, she picked up.

"What in the actual fuck do you want, Vegeta?" She asked with venom and condescension, breathing heavily about to have a panic attack.

"That's not the way to talk to your father." He growled on the other side softly, she didn't care.

"A father who locked his own daughter with extreme measures underground," She replied with hidden rage, "Someone who almost drove her insane with many things at the same time, a father who doesn't knows how to be one, one who thinks his daughter is a hazard… what do you want from me now?!"

She knew she pinched something in him with that.

"Where the fuck are you and how did you escape?!" He yelled on the other side, amazingly not crushing the device in his hand.

"That's none of your business! It was the best thing I've done so far!"

And she wasn't joking at all, the feeling of freedom she had after she setted herself free was overwhelming at the point she didn't really know what to do asides of fleeing as far away as she could, still to that moment she didn't regret a thing because it made her meet the best people in the whole world. Flint and the others became too important in such a little amount of time…

"What the fuck are you talking about?!"

That just completely made her feel more mad than before. Was he playing dumb at her?

"It means that I don't want to see nor know anything about you! I don't want to go back because y'all going to try to put me down in jail again with more security measures! I'm really fine where I am! For the first time in ages I am actually fine, and I won't let you ruin it!"

Oh good Lord, it just felt so damn good to let all of that out! It made her feel alive again! Her father groaned, she could picture him covering his face before yelling again.

"You're a knucklehead!"

"Tell me about it!"

In the right moment where he was about to reply angrier than before she hung up, she was hysterical, she wanted to yell and cry, punch a wall, destroy a freaking mountain with her fists and end up sobbing. She thanked God that nobody was around so she didn't have to explain anything, her pride, heritage of her father was what didn't allow her to it… indeed she took out a great bravery to yell at him.

So, she yelled against a pillow as she thrashed the air ragingly to then hug Newt the bear as she pulled out the earbuds from the MP3 player, putting setting a list of songs that'd be able to eventually calm her down in a while. Her body shaking, her blood boiling, her arms around the teddy bear, and finally a few minutes later while Coldplay's Don't Panic was playing she finally calmed down.

"Oh, all that I know, there's nothing here to run from..." She softly sang at the end, "Cause yeah, everybody here's got somebody to lean on..."

Sometimes she still felt complexed about the idea of leaning on Flint, it still felt so new somehow. Her phone rang again, it wasn't from a call but a text from his father:

__**I just wanted to let you know that there will be an important exam in that dimension full of weak ninjas in a few days, they told me they need you there. I'll be sending a ship having in count the coordinates and the origin of your call.**__

__**And I'm sorry for being an asshole.**__

__**Don't tell anyone, alright?!**__

She smiled a little bit. Her father could be a real ass, but really deep down somewhere he was quite a nice guy – a something she barely saw from him asides from when he went to save her in the dark zone. Anyway.

That's became the first thing that started to bother her in the day, how to tell Flint that she was going to leave the island soon? And he didn't specify when, just why...

Then there was that second thing that made her more worried than before...

__**T**____**hree days earlier...**__

There was Flint walking under the cloudless sky of the town of Swallow Falls, for the first time in years it seemed that everything was bright and clear in the entire town, he felt relief and happiness! Everything seemed to go uphill now that all was setted with Alice, now he finally got to confess her about Marlene – speaking of that, even if he was completely against the idea, she convinced him to talk to his father right away about it before he could ask. He was… both sad and shocked to find out that his son witnessed a murder and went through the same hell of losing someone beloved again to the fair point he couldn't do anything but comfort him with a bear hug that left him breathless.

In that same moment and pushing those memories away, enjoying the lightness of his shoulders now the heavy load was taken away, he couldn't stop looking at the sky and think how good everything was, how he felt like he could walk outside without any fears (either because they also feared her or because he literally saved the planet). Oh yes, he was already starting his training with Alice, how to fly as a way to start.

"I'll just tell you that these concepts are quite abstract so, don't get annoyed if you can't make it right in the first attempt."

And she was quite right about it, he had issues the first couple of times until he finally managed to focus. Now he could float a few inches off the ground and he was eager to reach new altitudes in a near future… literally. Someday, maybe, she would take him to the palace… maybe that's where he could get the ratbirds to life even!

It was all nice, too perfect at the point nothing seemed to be able to ruin it – or that's what it seemed until he felt this dark presence, feeling how there suddenly was something wrong going on. He looked down to his front, then turned around in confusion, there was no one… or that's what he thought? What day was it in the first– no.

"Did you lose one of your toys again, Lockwood?"

Shit… He thought, Of course it had to be him...

It was Albert Shelbourne, the Mayor of Swallow Falls. Barely surpassing 3'2 ft. a selfish bastard in his opinion, arrogant, round like a bean filled with pure evil, a cockroach and anything bad thing that could come up to his mind.

No one else was there to blame for the fire in the cannery and the loss of a lot of fellow folks, including his mother's; there was no one else to blame the "mysterious" death of Brent's parents and undoubtedly, the death of Marlene O'Neil. He made a hard work on not clenching his fists and look at him trying to hide his anger as much as he could, sighing deeply he turned around to look at him, with Brent carrying all the luggage in his arms.

"And? Have you lost any of your toys or are you planning to destroy the island again?" He asked sneerily, how fun would it be to punch his damn, arrogant smile from his face!

"Please let me alone..." He only said, sighing deeply trying to let out all his anger with that. One day… one darn day… He thought.

"Why?" Shelbourne asked again, "Do you want to run with your mom?" That was such a low blow even for him.

Flint pressed his fists vigorously, he didn't know if run away and give the reason for Shelbourne or stay there standing and continue to hear him trash-talking about his family... on the other hand, Alice was going to join him, coming from a football game with the other kids until she saw the Mayor, hearing him saying hurtful things.

So many things passed through her head right there: by one side she wanted to jump in and cut it off, on the other side, she was afraid of that man who was barely her stature, and even if she wasn't that close, she could feel an odd aura coming from the Mayor, one similar to Maximus that made her feel nauseous. She knew there could be consequences if she did something, but she didn't want her friend to get more hurt than he was, also feeling his growing tension… She saw Brent shaking his head to her direction, like saying to not get involved, then...

"Why don't you better disappear before you destroy the entire island, Lockwood? That's the best thing you can do. No one wants you here..."

Bam!

A sharp pain crossed his face product of what probably was the hardest slap he could ever get in his life – and that was to talk a lot, it wasn't the first time, it was made with the back of a hand. It was that hard at the point he tumbled backwards, he had his eyes closed for a moment, then felt something warm falling from his nose and getting between his lips, tasting a metallic flavor; with his wrist he cleaned whatever dripped down, when he saw it… it was blood, when he looked to the person, there was a girl in front of the inventor, who looked shocked like everybody else.

"Who do you think you are, stupid brat?!"

He was angry at the same time he was… curious, the rage in her eyes, the tension in her posture, arms and legs spread open to her sides… he never saw her, she was new in the island and somehow she befriended the weirdo, that's all he could tell.

"Just leave him alone!" She yelled angrily, fire in her eyes showing fury. Condescending, quite unsure he could tell, but determined to protect him.

The ambient was tense with public gathered around them including Earl, nobody was saying anything but watching the scene in silence, expecting for the next couple of movements from both sides. Flint placed his hands on her shoulders as he tried to take her away, but it was moving a giant boulder, she didn't move an inch nor loose up.

"Or what? What are you going to do if I don't leave?" He asked threateningly, waiting for her reaction.

"Alice, please stop it…" Flint said in a low voice, "Is not worthy… please just let's move..." He was desperate to get away from there, he just really, **really** wanted to not get into troubles, either he nor her. She didn't move anyway, like a dog about to attack. The Mayor noticed her tail wagging from side to side angrily, he was fairly surprised, but he didn't say anything about it...

"Your petty new friend is really foolish, Lockwood, why don't you put a leash on her?"

He didn't reply, Alice didn't take the direct insult, becoming tenser than before and alarming her friend more than he was. She didn't give to his panic, she being far focused in a protection instinct than a rational thinking. The man just made her feel stressed, she couldn't stand his presence, it felt like danger was screaming its name louder and louder…

"Just leave my friend alone..." She mumbled, growling softly. Brent stepped back knowing what could come after, "Fucking bastard..."

That irritated him a lot. Much more than any of the presents wanted.

"Don't talk to me in that way you stupid little brat!"

"Who is the stupid here, you or me?" She quickly replied with coldness in her voice like being about to attack again, Flint's nails were gripping her shoulders as he tried to pull her back. It was normally easy to move and carry her around, but this time it was like, again, trying to move a giant boulder alone.

"Didn't your parents teach you to shut up, brat?!"

The thing that maybe the inventor thanked to heavens the most was the fact that she was unarmed.

She stared at the Mayor's eyes closely as her body started to give into her friend's arms as he pulled her away from the rat her angry mind considered the Mayor to be. Before he turned her around to go, she again looked right to Shelbourne's blue eyes with all the darkness in her inside and said:

"I know what you did… murderer..."

He widened his eyes in response as she looked away, clenching his fists at the same time he wanted to know what he told her, and what she really meant with the sentence, but that was in a little corner of his mind. The rage spread like a wild fire inside the mind of the fairly corrupt representative of Swallow Falls, he couldn't allow a little girl get away with it that easily, his stare was stuck over her neck as she and that stupid inventor walked away.

Moved by the anger inside him, his legs started to move to her direction wanting to beat the shit out of her, not caring of what the folks could say afterwards, not caring about his reputation, mostly behaving like an angry child wanting to get back his toy by the force. No one in years dared to face him in that way; thrilling, indeed, shameful…? Yes. How come a girl had much more guts to be condescendant to him? He knew she heard stuff, that's clear.

Shelbourne was right about to grab her shoulder and attack, the least he expected was feel another sharp pain right on the bridge of his nose, between his eyes as she hit him with her elbow, making him tumble backwards, then another hard hit, this time it wasn't a slap but a punch that felt more like a rock, to then feel his body rolling on the hard concrete. At the same time, everyone made fade gasps of surprise as there was horror in the face of Flint, who completely got around her in order to stop her, Alice gave in this time.

Then they turned around and left again with his hands tightly gripping her shoulders. Flint was… extremely unsettled with the many stares of the folks. He heard them whispering to each other, he could see them starting to walk a few steps away from them, and he was even more scared with the stare behind his neck, he didn't turn around in any moment, he felt afraid… his grip tightened more as his throat became dry.

"You won't get away with this you little brat!" They heard him yell, "Did you hear me?! You'll pay for your insolence!"

When they reached home Alice took off his hands from her shoulders as she turned to face him, making him sit on the couch of the living room as he looked so… pale, that's when she realized what happened and why he was in that way.

"Oh God… Flint I'm so sorry..." She said starting to shake, "I-I-I…" Her ideas got messed up, stuttering, "I didn't m-mean t-to..."

"No, don't..." He said, her eyes got wide open as she stepped back once, then looked down. He lifted up her gaze by putting his hands on her cheeks, cleaning her tears and making her look to his eyes, "Don't apologize… I'm not mad at you… thank you for helping me out there..."

Then his arms were wrapping her in a tight hug, slowly she did the same as she cried softly, then buried her face in his neck sobbing and gripping her hands to his back.

"I'm so sorry..." She said, sounding… scared, "I'm really sorry..."

"It'll be alright Alice, I promise."

__**End **____**transmission**__

The more she thought about it the guiltier she felt, all the things she's heard about Albert Shelbourne were enough to not piss him off and pass under the radar somehow, and now he knew about her friendship with Flint only because she _had_ to save his back. Knowing what he did in the past, how he is in present time, she was really afraid that the Mayor could take retaliation against them only to _hurt her_.

Rage, despair, she wanted to scream and cry so hard, break everything in her way again, explode, bend and break…

And then she was sinking in a ball, hugging her legs as panic was taking over, the air didn't get into her lungs, everything was becoming dark as there was a high-pitched noise in her ears, no music… almost reaching nothingness in his mind… it was cold, she felt isolated…

Then something warm wrapping around her, giving her comfort, her nose caught that familiar smell she got used so fast, one that smelled as science and monkey. Slowly she opened her eyes to find Flint silently comforting her, being upon his lap pressed against his chest, feeling how he was caressing the back of her neck softly; it worked… the tension started to slowly get released and fade as she sunk into his warm presence.

"What's the matter, Liz?" He asked her softly, sometimes he couldn't stop feeling like his mother, and he was glad to be getting used to it. "There is something bothering you, is it Shelbourne?" She nodded a bit, burying her face more into his chest, "Oh… hey, please stop worrying about him, is not worth of your concern!" He was right, she had to admit, but she couldn't. All the things she knew he did and he still could do...

"I'm so sorry… I can't help it..." She said, sniffing hard, "I… I feel like… I pissed off the wrong person… again…" She took a pause, then, "Aren't you afraid, Flint…?" She asked, "Aren't you afraid that he might try something…?"

He got silent for a long while, like trying to analyse what he was thinking and feeling; she didn't get away from his chest, remaining with her face hidden there as her tail swung side to side slowly with anxiety. She needed his darn answer in that very moment.

"I can say that I'm not, to be honest," He said, "I can lie to you and say that I'm not, so, in fact I am..." He heard a groan from her, "But," She jumped out a bit as she raised her look to see what he had to say, "At the same time, I feel safe because you're here..."

Her heart sunk to her feet and below when he said that, she really wanted to tell him, but she didn't have the heart to tell him 'I'll be leaving soon', instead, she asked, "What if I have to leave…? What'd you do?"

And again he went silent…

"Maybe plant an entire security system around the house and my laboratory until you're back..." He replied, cleaning all her tears again. "I understand that there will be a point where you'll have to leave the island, your father is probably looking for you," She looked down again in response, "but I have faith that you're going to come back if that happens." Then she looked back to him, "Will you?"

She gave him a cracked smile in response, "Yes… I will..." The girl replied, then hugged him tight, "I promise I will..."

Now how to tell him she was leaving in the following days?

She didn't have the heart…

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_**Somewhere else... **_

Going to the giant, pretentious mansion where the Mayor lives, passing through the hallway and going to the gloomy basement – and still to that day, barely illuminated basement, we can see Albert Shelbourne coming back and forth lost in deep thoughts.

His mind couldn't stop giving rounds and rounds around the little monkey brat, how annoying she was and how Lockwood had this attachment to her, and by the way she attacked him, she was also attached to him. He already had a plan, as soon as they left his wicked mind traced up a full plan to make the suffer a bit of a lot, individually.

But his mind was around a specific thing she said: "I know what you did… murderer..."

All the possible venom was spit in that single sentence, emphasizing the word 'murderer' with fire in her eyes like telling him that he'd be already dead where he stood.

The last person to tell him these same words was Fran Lockwood herself, years ago before she died. "Hmph..." He remembered the scene clear, a few days after the affair with the McHale's he encountered the little kid on the street, he wasn't doing anything wrong at the moment, just there waiting for his mother to come up and pick him from the school. He remembered how he looked uneasy by the stare he was getting from him, using his stupid lab coat that didn't even fit him.

He gave him a hell of a scare that day with his staring, the young boy ran and hid behind the leg of his mom. She was a sweetheart and charming, unless she was pissed, and indeed she was back then. She didn't yell nor complain, all she did was come close to him and say those same words: "I know what you did, murderer." with all the coldness she could give. Then she left with her son in arms.

He grumbled annoyed, his hand quickly got onto a table and grabbed a gun, starting to shoot over and over again towards a blank point in the walls. Gosh he wanted a bullet in her forehead! But he was aware that she wasn't normal after asking Brent what he missed during his stay in New York when he just arrived… everything sounded unbelievable as hell, "Ha! Aliens, right. Of course they're real!" He said in the moment, "Sure they destroyed the island, and like magic everything is back to normal? Yeah, I totally believe you."

And then she popped up. He didn't see her coming, neither when he got the slap nor when she turned to hit his face with her elbow, she was faster than his eyes could witness.

_**Click, click, click.**_

Dammit, he ran out of bullets.

He released the weapon making it fall on the soil, grumbling once again. As soon as they were divided he would start his plan because, they couldn't be together all the fucking time, right? There would be this one moment where they have to be away from the other for some reason, and that's when he will have a chance to strike. How fun indeed…

No one mocks of Albert Shelbourne, it was that simple! He was the big boss in that town full of mindless idiots, he had the power to do anything he wanted, whenever he wanted.

He turned around to grab his weapon, his gaze went to that dark corner where he left the sealed coffin surrounded by flowers. Slowly his hand went away as he stood back up with coldness in his eyes, walking towards it and starting to caress the side of it.

That night was still haunting his mind…

"I didn't mean it..." He mumbled, "I'm sorry Marlene..."

When he was back to the basement he saw her lying on the floor under a pool of her blood, her skin was white, she was cold and there were traces of somebody else having been there. He shook his head denying reality, he didn't believe for the first couple of weeks until the smell of a rotten corpse started to come out. He spent hours and hours making that coffin, with his sanity swinging back and forth, with her voice in his head repeating "Look what you've done...", then sealing it again with her inside, asking every time for forgiveness.

He always knew that Lockwood was in the house that night, the handprints left on the skylight, the footprints of the floor… it couldn't be anybody else but _him_.

That's when his mind realized back in the day that Flint Lockwood was the reason of why she was dead! Yeah! He was the culprit! If he never met her, she would _still be alive!_ He killed his daughter, not him!

"_**He didn't kill me...**_" He quickly covered his ears from her voice, "_**You know he didn't, dad...**_"

"Yes… he did!" He shouted to nowhere, "He fucking did! It's his fault, not mine!"

There was no response, leaving him alone. He never knew if it was his own madness or if it was her.

That's when he reached a resolution...

Lockwood was going to be the first to suffer.


	2. Some thoughts got lost in a strange land

**Author's Note**: I'll update while I have enough ideas and 'til cringe hits me really damn hard as usual, hee hee.

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**Disclaimer**: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.  
Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Pierrot Studios.  
The respective OC's belongs to me.

* * *

_Lie still beside me, I'll hold you now  
__I'll hold you forever..._

_You Are Young - Keane_

...

_**The next day…**_

When she woke up it was a brand new day, slowly she moved from her place, having woken up with the soft smell of Flint against her and finding herself in the laboratory… _Oh, I did it again…_ she thought, she looked at him finding herself cuddled under his chin with one of his arms wrapped around her, judging by the slow breathing of his chest she could tell he was still asleep. Nice. She cuddled him more, not wanting to get away from his warm presence…

A couple of times she did wake up in his laboratory without explanation, always as close from him as she could. The first time she was so confused because that was a new one, the second time he confirmed her, while he was awake late at night still figuring out stuff for the ratbirds that she climbed like a monkey towards his bed and sleep there in her dreams, "Well, apparently you're a sleepwalker." He said, she couldn't avoid give him a puzzled gaze in response, "What?"

"Uh… I've… I've never done that before..." She admitted with a pink shade on her face, scratching the back of her head and looking away, "It's… it's a really new thing..." He chuckled, making her a bit more ashamed than before. He mumbled things about unconscious bonding or something like that, pretty much a bunch of things she didn't catch up except the fact he thought it was really cute, now passing to a deep shade of red.

She blushed again at the memory, turning around from him and biting her cheeks softly trying to calm down somehow. Her eyes went to the clock to check the hour, it was barely 10 AM and she didn't think he'd wake up soon enough, so slowly – really slowly she sneaked out of his arm, replacing it with a pillow; as soon as she got out she saw Steve cuddled in a ball upon the headboard as if he was taking care of them… "Aww..." She whispered.

Then, silently she made her way out of the lab as she went downstairs barefoot.

The large amount of junk around the backyard made her think, _How is he going to re-use all of this in the future?_ She had no doubts that her friend was brilliant, yet… uh… what could be the right expression? He didn't really think a lot in the use of his inventions when he gets passionate about his ideas, coming first with the design and awesomeness and _later_ in if it'd be useful or not. That was clear as water after looking at some tapes he had recorded in his computer from some past inventions like the Flying Car – _How could you forget about the wings?_ She thought with giggles, the TV Remote Controller – come on, he was just a kid back then, two years younger.

The Spray-on Shoes were actually a really nice idea, she didn't blame him for not considering that they wouldn't unstick from his feet, maybe re-make it in a future but without the sticking part. Maybe they could work to fix worn out shoe soles… yeah, it sounded about right.

"Hey Al!"

Cal peeked above the fence with a smile on his face.

"Morning, Cal." She replied with a smile as she got near him, "How are you?".

"Fine… just woken up..." She rubbed her eyes a bit with the back of her hand, "I was going to clean myself up and get some breakfast."

"Oh, alright. Do you want to go to play something later? We'll playing soccer again and they want you to join! You're really good as a goalie!" She looked down a bit, her smile faded, "Alice?"

"Thanks but… I-I think I'll stay again today..." She sounded quite... ashamed of saying it, "Sorry..."

Her friend looked at her for quite a while, seeming disappointed. "Don't you want to talk about it?" She only shrugged a bit. "Hey, we're friends, aren't we?" She nodded a bit in response, yet she still seemed… reluctant to tell him. He had a theory though, "Alright then, I guess I'll see you later?" She smiled a bit in response, "Perhaps then." She nodded again, "Okay, see you later!" There he jumped out the fence to his side, she took a peek and saw him walking back in.

_I'm sorry… _She thought, heading to the inside of the house and the bathroom, made herself up and went to the kitchen ready to make some pancakes.

She knew Cal had an idea of what was going on because she stopped leaving the house after the little incident with Shelbourne – and she hated to be afraid so much… as if she didn't have enough with Maximus already. More than once a day he or any of the other kids use to come and ask if she didn't want to join to their games. Surely she'd be delighted to it, but her instinct (or paranoia?) was the thing that made her set back in the plans several times and make up an excuse to not go… she just didn't want Flint to get hurt, neither to repeat what happened with Alex and Henry that day the panther asshole showed up.

And even if the Mayor was nothing but a freaking fly compared to someone with enough energy to blow up the entire planet, even the most mundane things were something to take care of. Her experiences left her clear that the size and shape didn't matter at all, a warrior should never underestimate their enemy that easily. The bastard was sneaky, Tim was often out, there could be a way he could sneak into Flint's lab and… she shrugged the thoughts away as much as possible; she could feel his energy from the other side anyway, but still, sometimes she just felt afraid that if something happened she wouldn't be there in time.

Her stomach reminded her she still needed breakfast, sighing deeply she started to get things to make her breakfast: eggs, bread, orange juice and bacon, getting ready the frying pan, starting up the toaster… carefully she poured some oil on the pan, then in seconds she was breaking a couple of eggs, cutting the bread for the toaster, adding the bacon with the eggs and getting a plate. At the same time the toasts popped up already ready, she served the fried food on the plate at the same time she started to make more…

"That smells delicious!" She yelped and turned around, seeing Flint looking at her with a smile in his face, "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"A bit…" There was a little pause, her corporal expression showed surprise "I didn't expect you already awake..." She bit her cheeks awkwardly, to then turn back to the oven before her food could start to burn.

"Don't you need some help, Liz?" He asked nicely, she shook her head, "Are you sure?"

"Do you know how to cook?" The girl asked without turning around, he chuckled like saying yes, she didn't reply, "It's fine… don't worry… it's done already anyway..." She turned at him again and passed him the plate, three eggs, two strips of bacon with bread and a glass with the juice. "Here..."

He took it with a smile and went to set the table, then looked at her again, she seemed to be… aloof again. He sat down and waited her to be done with her portion, being a bit less than him as if she meant his to be special. The first portion of food was the best thing he could ever taste, it felt like it's been ages since the last time he actually got something that wasn't coffee, and it was actually freaking edible unlike sardines… and not that his father didn't know how to cook nor anything but – well it sometimes was… tasteless.

She noticed his joy, there was this bright in his eyes telling everything, she smiled a bit in response.

"So, you're not going to play with the other kids again." She almost choked, "Yeah, I probably eavesdropped your conversation with Cal. I awoke when you moved, I just pretended to be asleep. Is it because of Shelbourne?"

He nailed the hit, she looked away red and ashamed.

"Are you mad at me…?" She asked softly.

"No! Why would I?" Oh gee, it was better to solve this fast, "Alicia, I really mean this: please don't be stuck here with me and go with them. Don't look at me that way, I love you, and it hurts me a lot that you rather spend the day locked here instead of going and enjoying with your other friends!"

"But what if he–?"

"Stop it right there." Dear Lord, it was probably going to be hard… "I really, really understand that you're afraid and going full on defensive mode, but nothing will happen if you leave me for an hour or two, alright?"

"Why and how are you so sure about that?!" She asked now sounding desperate, "How do you know that nothing will happen while I'm not here?! What if he sneaks in while I'm away and he–" She couldn't end the sentence, entering into a breakdown.

"Because I trust you!" He exclaimed, she looked at him to his eyes again, "I trust you'll know if there is something wrong, I trust that you'll come back to me either if I'm unharmed or not. And, if something happens I want you to remember something that I've failed to understand a lot: you can't always save everybody. It'll be what it is..."

She couldn't hide the tears forming in her eyes that now were falling down her face slowly, sniffing hard, clenching her hands to then hug him tight afterwards. He returned the hug trying to calm her down… he still felt like his mom in so many senses with her, asides of an older brother.

"I'm sorry for being like this." She said, "Sometimes I can't help it..."

"I know, I know..." He slowly broke the hug, cleaning her face with the back of her hand, "Now go to clean your face, I'll do the dishes."

She did the asked, he did what he said. Taking all the dishes, he put them on the sink, opened the knob and started to wash them silently.

_You remember you made a dishwasher for dad so no one would make them again, right?_ His mind told him, he cringed a bit at the memory.

He remembered it clearly, he modified an old oven he found in the town's dump when he was eleven, added a few arms to it plus a unicycle wheel for movement and it was meant to take all the dirty stuff from the table so no one else would do it again._ **I call it the Flint Lockwood Super Mobile Dishwasher Machine! Or for short, the FLSMDM!** _It worked… for five seconds until it started to grab everything in its way and even somehow, in a way he couldn't explain _at all_, it made Tim fit inside.

It's not necessary to mention he was pretty much boiling in silence, right? He could see his eyes filled with what was also disappointment, even if they were hidden behind his monobrow. All his father did was sigh and leave.

That was the day he had forbidden any Flint Lockwood housekeeping-related invention – or at least the drop that filled the glass after an attempt of a vacuum cleaner that sucked everything in its way (also, Tim, another thing he still couldn't explain rationally) but that left the house pretty clean, an automatized broom-and-mop that also got out of control and broke down a wall… a good bunch of other things and the TV Remote Controller.

Then, he was already done with the dishes.

He went to check on Alice to the bathroom, which was empty, then checked her room, she was lying on her bed while hugging Newt tightly. He sat next to her, rubbing her arm slowly, she looked at him lightly with part of her hair covering her face. "Al?" She looked away again, cuddling the teddy bear, he had an idea, "Wouldn't you like me to go with you? Of course if that makes you feel better about leaving!"

"Are you sure?" He gave a wide smile in response.

"Yeah! Why not? I can get some things to work at while we're there." She sat down and smiled at him, then leaned her forehead against his arm. He wrapped her in a warm hug again, "Alright, get ready, I'll be right back."

She giggled a bit and stood up ready to change her clothes as he went upstairs for a pencil, erasers, anything that had to be with blueprints, his old school backpack, a pencil case… he was here, there, he fell to the floor sonorously and stood up back again, his backpack was about to explode ready to leave... and then he spotted this little notepad he almost never used. He thought about it for a moment, then thought, _Why not?_ As he grabbed it and placed it in his pocket. Before leaving he yelled at Steve to take care of the laboratory, his partner was sleeping in his box.

He returned downstairs carrying his backpack, yawned softly and turned to the fence. Cal just peeked over.

"Hey Flint!" The boy greeted, the inventor got near to him, "Where are you going?"

"Alice is going to play with you and your friends," The boy smiled widely, "I'm going with her because that's the only way I find to make her go. She's been, well, paranoid..."

"I figured after the third time she said no." He admitted lightly, "I get the reason. She really is attached to you and the Mayor only made her more paranoid than she is." Flint bit his cheeks a bit, looking down slightly, "Anyway, I'll be heading there now so I'll see you two later!"

Before he could say something, the boy jumped off the fence and headed back to his home leaving him there alone in silence. There were some things crossing his mind, then everything got lost, becoming nothing but a blank void for a long couple of minutes until he moved back inside; Alice was ready to go, using a couple of sport shoes that belonged to him when he was a child and some of his infant clothes, _Nice thing we kept them…_ He thought. A few other kids gave her nice clothing they didn't use anymore in good state when they realized she didn't have any behind the back of their parents. They weren't bad people, just quite closed-mind… _And somehow they managed to accept an alien faster than they did with me…_

For moments, yes, he was jealous that she got their respect that fast, on the other hand it could be because she saved them from a madman – even after she destroyed the entire town and almost the world, but as a consequence, he was seen for now as a hero… until he comes up with one of his inventions, of course. Maybe they respected her for her powers, too, which made more sense for him, or maybe it was genuine…

"Flint?" Her voice brought him back to reality as he yelped softly in response, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure..." He smiled a bit, then looked down slightly, "Let's go..."

He walked to the front door feeling her staring worriedly, as if she knew there was something wrong going on. He ignored the feeling the best he could, open the door and walk out, then he turned around at her to see if she was coming or not, she was there in her place staring intensely like the first time he tried to lie at her, with her head tilted to a side as she looked to his blue eyes.

"What are you hiding from me…?" She asked softly and curious, slowly walking towards his direction, "You can trust me..."

"I know Al, I just..." He sighed, "I don't really wanna talk about it, that's all."

He felt her disappointment when she squinted looking down, regardless, she grabbed his hand and looked back up with a smile and this tiny glint in her eyes. It made him feel relieved, she wasn't angry at him nor anything. From there they walked away together…

Weird, he had a feeling of being followed.

.

Sports weren't his thing. He was really bad at them – hence why in his school years nobody wanted to pick him up for dodgeball for example, neither for basketball nor volleyball (which once, he got hit in the face so hard at the point he lost his conscious and woke up in the nursery), he didn't really have coordination with his feet to play soccer, but funny enough he once applied for the local football team because of his speed and oddly enough because he actually got reflexes to avoid chasers.

Actually there is a trophy with his name in the hall of fame from when he was in ninth grade, and that happened by a miracle because when he was up his body was numb, receiving blood transfusion, surrounded by gifts in a hospital bed…

_**Flashback  
September 27th, 2007.**_

The last thing he remembered before he fell into a pitch of black and nothingness as he rolled on the grass feeling his entire body weighing way too much, even much more than it really does and also the screams of the public. His mind was too confused and tired to understand what was going on – oh yeah, and he had the ball in his arms too…

Wait, he had the–

"Oh, you're finally up sleepyhead!" He quickly sat down wherever he was at the same time he opened his eyes, which made his head and body pounce horribly and throw himself back again.

"Why did I do that?!" He complained with his hands grabbing the sides of his head, "God dammit I regret doing that so much..." He heard giggles and steps going closer to him, when he looked at the person he could see her.

"Hi, dingus." She said with a smile, her hazel eyes looking directly at his blue ones.

"I'm not a dingus!" He exclaimed, giggling softly, "Hi Mar… what happened? Where am I?"

"You're in intermediate therapy, do you remember anything of what happened before you passed?" He looked away for a moment to see if he did, then saw his gurney surrounded by presents, "Oh, right. You've won the championship." Her friend stared confused for a long moment, then raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What?! How?!"

She gave an explanation of what happened and how he managed to avoid a lot of the other team before falling, tumble and end up, conveniently with a foot in the touchdown zone and how his shoes were filled with leeches. He turned pale when he heard that, she told him that his Spray-on Shoes saved his life.

She told him that he was in intensive therapy first due a large lost of blood, that he had to get a blood transfusion and that the ones who put the leeches in his shoes were arrested in New York because it could've killed him. Now he was stable they moved him.

She also told mentioned that the entire football team came a few times to check on him and left him some gifts and other stuff – one of these few times other people that wasn't his dad cared about him, mentioning, too how she heard the coach wishing him to join back for the next season…

"Hell, no!" He exclaimed, "I mean, it was fun, really, but I'm worn out. I barely made it this season and I'm not really the athletic kind. And the other team put leeches in my shoes? Really?! What kind of dirty strategy was that? Hell, no. I still appreciate my life."

"Come on! You're not nearly fragile as you seem to be! Besides, you still could be a football player in your free time, whenever you're not inventing." She got right next to him on the bed and raised her arms to the ceiling, "Imagine, 'Flint Anthony Lockwood: of brains and bodies' or something like that. Not everyone got brains _and _a decent corporal shape, and we girls love athletes too." She giggled and winked at him, making him chuckle too and blush softly. "Or well, at least you could be a coach in your free time. I think your tiny brain would be able to think in a strategy for your team."

"Hey! My brain is not tiny!" Even if he took it a bit seriously, he laughed light-heartedly.

"Well, if it wasn't then you wouldn't forgot to add the wings to the Flying Car."

_**End transmission**_

_._

"_Are you ever letting me live without reminding me how I forgot the wings?_"

_**Ha! Surely not!**_

Instead of sniff, cry and break down, for the very first time since her death he smiled with a memory related to her, chuckling softly as he remembered that day… boy, if she was alive he was sure she wouldn't ever let him live without reminding him about the damn wings every time she had the chance. Sometimes she could picture them befriended, Mar being an older sister to Alice, making corny jokes and stuff, and probably in that way they'd saved up a lot of problems surrounding her life and her powers because she would be able to relate his late friend and her life, their lives about their fathers.

Everything happens for a reason, right?

He shook his head to push these thoughts away before nostalgia could hit again to focus in the game, seeing Alice as the goalie and the kids fighting (not literally) to get the ball. On of the kicks sounded so hard that made him flinch slightly feeling the tip of his toes hurt… sighing he got to his stuff, pretty much to what should the ratbirds look like – without making them way too gross, of course.

From time to time he looked up to watch the game for a while before going back to his stuff, with the sound of the ball often distracting him like having the feeling of it going to hit his face… oh, he hated to be a ball magnet. He had unpleasant flashbacks from dodgeball games. The one most likely to hit his face with those balls was Brent because he was an easy target… thank goodness he graduated from high school already.

His hands went to his pockets, taking out the notepad out and looking to its content: some old ideas from, casually, high school, notes and some random words left around – stuff he wrote whenever Marlene came up to his mind… he chuckled softly, now reminding and seeing that dreamy teen back again, even if she was gone the illusion was still there. Maybe one day he would meet the right one…

He looked at Alice, he felt her hopes and fears from the last two weeks all over again, the dark storm clouds around her becoming thicker and powerful. Deep down, even if she was still that young something told him she had that dream of finding "the one" in the future as well, marry, settle down and have a kid, and he wouldn't be surprised if that was the situation because of her life… she maybe wanted to live long enough to have all of that, somewhere deep inside those dreams were things that kept moving her world even if they could still be falling down to nothing but rubble.

_Fearful child, there's always light for better days,  
stay in home until the darkness goes away,  
lie here beside me, and I'll hold you now,  
From now and forever… (1)_

Was it a new layer of his personality? A side he never got to explore that wanted to bloom? He knew he was creative, some of his teachers even had the job of telling him that more than once, telling him to explore beyond science because maybe he would find a something else. They were… right, he thought. Maybe he would work on more later, it was hard to tell as some ideas were already popping in his mind… maybe another try…

He had a hard time picturing himself as something else than a scientist, he had to be honest that he never thought on changing something he considered as amazing and important as science, a closed door that got open in that way, basically. Maybe there was a really tiny chance of doing it as a hobby than something serious…

_The hand of winter will freeze your heart again,  
All doors get closed, no more time to start again,  
Nothing is given,  
except the ties that holds us together..._

He felt the last two verses from the deep of his heart, his previous experiences, with his mom, with Marlene and now Alice and a lot of his life in general. Nothing in life is given nor taken for granted, one had to work for them, but emotional ties, well… those weren't easy to get, but they could last a lifetime if it's real. And his ties with them were even beyond death… he wasn't a believer, but the last couple of weeks made him start to change his mind and even himself.

_Place down your load, 'cuz everyday they're gonna grow,  
And sing under the sunshine,  
And don't pay any mind, please don't pay any mind at all,  
To all the things unknown for you.  
You got time to realize you're protected by the hands of love  
Cause you are young…_

He took a pause for a long moment to process a bit. That's where he wondered if he was writing all of that to her or himself, or maybe even both… for a moment he felt this hand rubbing his back, when he turned around to check there was no one, he looked back to the field seeing the kids still playing, and seeing Alice now joined to the team as something else than the goalie. His hand went to where he felt the touch and smiled a bit with a warm sensation…

_Fading light often makes a fool of me,  
courage fades, strength drips away from my hands  
lie right here beside me,  
and hold me now, please hold me forever…_

Indeed, the song was for both of them, for himself and for Alice. In some way, he was letting his own insecurities go. The first two verses were about himself, a lot, how his courage sometimes faltered and strength sometimes got to leave, making him weak and susceptible to his humanity; the second two verses came from all the times she held him in her arms not wanting to let go, making her feel safe, making him feel loved and wanted, and making them both relax, forgetting about the world, its meanness and every single problem they could get through.

_Place down your load, 'cuz everyday they're gonna grow,  
these days are precious,  
So now don't be scared,  
girl please don't be scared at all,_

_To all the things unknown for you.  
You got time to realize you're protected by the hands of love  
Cause you are young…_

_You've got time, you gotta try  
to bring some good to this dark world,  
cause you are young,  
cause you are young..._

Writing a song became really therapeutic. He wondered why he never tried it before. _Because even if she thinks this seems really good, I think I'm a wooden-ass songwriter._ He thought with a little smile, even if for now he was quite satisfied with the results so far. Maybe the next day he would end up hating it and probably rewriting it or just dropping it… he had this idea of maybe try to give it away, but probably not now.

He could feel Marlene next to him even if physically talking there was nobody there, hearing her saying that it was so sweet of him to write in that way, probably teasing him about how brilliant he could be yet again bringing up the damn wings of the Flying Car. He chuckled at the thought, a bit of a lot… he would enjoy to not feel pain with her memories as much as he could; keeping the secret of her death was what kept him so anxious for a long time, now he finally had the chance of telling someone the truth, all the demons that used to come at him every time were gone. For how long? He didn't know, so, it was better to enjoy peace as long as possible.

"Hey, nerd." He heard coming from a side, he turned towards the source of the voice, seeing Brent coming.

"Oh, hi Brent..." He closed his notepad, placing it back in his pocket. His usual bully sat down a few steps above him, keeping distance to not attract Alice as much as possible, "Is there a problem? Or something you need?"

"Heh, I just haven't seen you two out in days." He replied, first looking at him and then to the field.

"I've been busy with something, that's all. Alice is been reluctant to leave me alone since the thing with you-know-who."

"What the heck did you tell her?" He asked curious, the inventor just shrugged, "Everything?" He received a little glance, which replied the question, "You scared her?"

"No. She knew who he was when she confronted him. I told her about the fire at the cannery, your parents and Marlene, she knows he can do anything from now on and she won't leave me alone." He turned around at him again, "Alice is really aware of his behavior, that's why I'm here, because she won't leave me alone at home."

There was silence asides of the screams of the kids and the ball being kicked with force, with Brent looking down like processing the information in the best way he could. Silently they asked each other something: the root of all his evil, the reason of his instability, because he wasn't dangerous all the time. He had his… days. Some days he was being… himself (?): bossy, greedy, in their opinion kind of irritating, and other days, well… cold-blooded and obscure. The inventor thought, _Maybe I can ask dad what he knows…_

_**WOAH!**_

They heard the kids scream in awe making them look to them. Alice kicked the ball too hard, flying towards the goal post at the side of the school, it bounced on the ceiling of the building once, then twice and fell to the ground, bouncing higher than before, hitting the door of a car getting opened which scared the owner, hitting Earl on his head who was nearby and bouncing away again – with the officer chasing the toy while yelling something like, "You won't get away from this soccer ball!" as he ran behind it. Accidentally when he got there, he kicked it away making it bounce in a lot of other places before somehow returning high above in the air and hitting Brent right on his head.

And the ball returned to the playground after he yelled in pain. Flint wondered what were the odds to have that happening… the bully sat again holding his head, hissing loudly and cursing under his breath, rubbing the top of his head until it passed; his vision was spinning for a while due the contusion, the inventor wanted to check on him yet he was slightly afraid that he might get angry, then when they realized, the girl was floating nearby, close to her friend and keeping an eye on the bully.

"Oh God, I wasn't doing anything!" He exclaimed at her annoyed, knowing what her stare meant, she looked at her friend, he pulled her down making her relax, "Anyway, see you later..." With that, he left the scene.

The inventor squinted a bit, then looked at her, Alice let out a little sigh.

"Let's go home..."

"Aren't you going to keep playing?" He asked, she pointed at the field showing that they were leaving already, "Oh, alright I think..." He took out his phone and checked the hour, it was almost afternoon, no wonder why they were leaving already, "Are you hungry?" He asked again, she nodded a bit, "Let's go to the Sardiner, what do you think?" This time she shrugged, apparently not minding where. Saving all his stuff in his backpack they left.

In their way to downtown area he noticed how she was unsettled, looking back every now and then as if she had a feeling of somebody following; he didn't ask, more than that, he tried to start up a chat and make her forget about it… it didn't go as well as he planned unlike when they first met, she was acting aloof and her guard up all the time, like feeling as if getting distracted for a second or two would be a mistake.

On the bright side, nothing seemed to have affected her appetite. She ate like there was no tomorrow yet moderated, trying to not keep a high bill or anything like that; "What a shame I haven't brought my stuff when I feel here… you wouldn't need to pay anything..." She said bittersweet, "We would eat everything we wanted too." Thanks to what she brought days ago, they got an actual meal that didn't include sardines, sadly it was the last stock, they enjoyed it as much as they could.

"Alice, can I ask you something?" There was still some food stuffed in his mouth, she nodded. Swallowing his food he asked, "What was wrong with Brent?" She looked away again, like feeling ashamed of talking, "Is it because he lives with _him_ that you don't trust him?" Again she remained silent, biting her cheeks a bit, "Even if he saved me from Max?" She squinted.

"I… no..." She sighed heavily, "I don't really do…" There were fair reasons, due the fact of living under the same roof with a madman, there weren't any doubts from her side about being forced to conspire against them. His appearance at the field just reinforced her concerns even if it could be just a casualty. "Besides, I've been feeling someone following us..."

She yelped when she heard him choking with his food, punching his chest managing to swallow and breath again, coughing hard, then he looked at her again surprised.

"Uh, do you know who is it?" She shook her head, "Oh..." He felt uneasy now, that's exactly what he felt when they were leaving the house! He thought it could be just his mind playing games, but it wasn't, _God dammit, you are too new with this! _He thought referring to sensing the energy of living beings, it was still all weird and he still had a hard time on getting used to the concepts.

He closed his eyes for a moment, he needed to clear up his mind and calm down. So many concerns starting to overwhelm him, really understanding better what Alice was feeling and where everything was going. He always knew his threat wasn't baseless, he never thought she was ever overreacting since the problems began; he sighed heavily and massaged his eyes trying to find a solution… he found none.

Opening his eyes again he found a painful dread, one he couldn't find a way to demote to something like 'a mere casualty' because it simply wasn't. He took a sip of water, squinting softly, he looked at her, she was looking down seeming sad. He started to caress her back trying to reassure her, she looked at him for a moment, then look away again; he felt bad, he knew she felt it still was everything her fault – which just wasn't!

"Hey, why don't we go to the forest? Hmm? You know, somewhere only we know." She chuckled softly with the reference, "What do you think?"

She turned around and stood up in response, leaving the bill on the table, he smiled as they headed outside. Levitating she got behind her friend, wrapping her arms under his arms he lifted him up and flew away; quickly, the sensation of being followed disappeared.

.

The afternoon became quiet after the session of training, now he knew how to levitate – kinda, she decided that it was time to show him another trick: walk on water. His mind almost got blown away, stating that it was impossible to do that, and quickly shutting up after she showed him how to do it; "It's energy control. You normally start with walking on trees without hands before going onto water, but I don't want to do any harm to that walnut."

It was harder than it looked: too much energy meant bounce away, too little was getting wet, keep the balance was even harder, one feet with too much and the other with too little, many falls to the water, until he started to get the grip of it a little. It was, though, a lot of wasted energy as well, and his failures took a laugh out of her more than twice. At 3:00 PM she went to get a snack for both and continue, at 4:00 PM she decided it was enough and allowed him to have a break, he fell asleep against the trunk of the tree almost immediately, she took him to the other side to cover up from the sun, laid down against him and fell asleep too.

One and a half hours later it was starting to become sunset, the nap came in handy, he felt quite better after that. When they reached the town it was, indeed sunset; the stars were slowly starting to loom in the sky in the opposite side of the sun as the palette slowly switched from reds, yellows and violets to a dark blue, far away it was already black. Somehow Steve joined them, none of them dared to ask how did he get out nor if he caused troubles to Tim again.

Flint was lost in the infinite sky, his mind getting lost among the stars and the secrets of the universe, his desire of exploring for scientific purposes yet also because of genuine human curiosity. His imagination went wild: he could see himself piloting a spacecraft like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek or something more "his" (hard to explain what did that mean), crossing the galaxy and witnessing the wonders of the universe…

"Why are you looking at the stars like that, Flint?" He heard Alice asking curiously.

"I..." He dragged the word for a while as he tried to put his head together for a moment, he looked down to her, his icy-blue eyes glinting with curiosity, "Alice, I think I probably asked you this a few times before already but, how is the outer space?"

"Well… it's big, dark and cold..." She took a little pause, "There are so many planets and civilizations too: ancient, advanced ones… there's a bit of everything, basically."

Ancient, advanced civilizations, probably some like Earth too! Many different beings across the entire universe, with different shapes, sizes, abilities… probably others alike to humankind like the Saiyans or the Pantherlines, maybe some were more brutal than them, others probably were a utopia, something way far, far away from what human civilization was so, so behind.

His eyes caught in the sky a shooting star passing by, he showed it to his friend and pointed at it, then he squinted and realized it took a turn towards the planet, entering. He noticed Alice getting tense, he tried to calm her down… she shook her head and tried to ran away, he held her arm tight to not let her go.

"Alice, what's the matter?"

The girl broke down into tears then down, crying hard in his arms.

"I-I… I'm sorry..." He got so… confused, "I… my father called me yesterday..." She sniffed, cleaning her face, "It's a… long story but..." She whimpered, coughing a bit, "I have to go..."

She felt him frozen, she broke the hug and looked at him. The inventor was processing the information silently, with his gaze lost somewhere as tears were forming in his eyes, then he looked down. "Why didn't you tell me…?" She sniffed hard in response, everybody else was seeing how the meteor landed in the forest.

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

There was a shock wave, creating a storm of dust that covered the town for a few moments until it started to fade away. Not even that made the two friends move from their places…

"I didn't know how to tell you..." She mumbled sadly, "I didn't know I was leaving today… he didn't tell me when… I'm so sorry… I don't wanna go…"

"But you have to..." He felt his heart ache with pain, he hated it so much, "I understand… I really do..." He placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her close for another hug, slowly rubbing her hair. Why it was so hard to say goodbye?

He broke the hug and together, they walked towards the landing zone with their hands grabbed; when they arrived there, they saw this round, white pod with the gate open down showing the interior: there was a single, empty and comfy seat, attached to the lowered gate there was a control panel. The inventor could see a few compartments at the sides of the pod and under the seat, making him wonder what else it had… he could _feel_ the townsfolk coming…

"So… this is it?" He asked sadly, "Alice?" The girl cleaned up her face, it couldn't be the end, right? Not that easily at least, "Will you come back?"

"You want me to…?"

"Of course I do! You're my best friend! Why wouldn't I want you to come back? Dad and Steve loves you. And me too." He smiled a bit, then hugged her tight again… then he thought about something, "Can you excuse me for a while? I'll be right back!"

He turned around and left running as fast as his legs could back to the town, his legs felt lighter than before – or maybe it was because of the early training. He _could _try and levitate to go faster, but he felt comfortable using his feet for now. Reaching his home in no time, he went to her room and two things: the black shirt of 'I got the brains', then to his laboratory, picking a red shirt with the Atari logo in yellow. For a moment he thought about taking Newt the bear too, but then he dropped the idea… he thought it was better to make him wait there, so without losing any more time he went back.

When he returned to the landing zone, there were Calvin and Cassie hugging their friend tight, looking sad for her departure. He felt them, he was saddened as well, slowly he got near them as they got away and left them alone, even if before leaving they gave her a friendship bracelet.

"In that way you won't feel alone!" The girl said, showing hers too, "We hope to see you soon again, Al…"

"Me too guys, I'll miss you so much..." Alice cleaned her face again, sniffing hard trying to swallow her pride and fears, "I'll see you soon..."

Her friends turned around and left the place to make the goodbye less bittersweet, letting her spend a few minutes with Flint. Slowly he lent the couple of clothes to her, she took them with a sheepish smile.

"Have a nice trip, Liz."

"Thanks… and Flint, please be extra careful..."

"I will, don't worry."

One more hug, a very tight one, sniffing his essence as much as she could as she was going to be away for a long time, she didn't want to let go at all, wanting to throw everything to the trash can and stay… but there was a team waiting for her.

"Oh, and before you go…" The inventor got quite red, "When you're back, uh… wouldn't you like to, you know… take me to your palace?"

She chuckled softly.

"Maybe for your birthday..." Grabbing her new clothes tight, she turned around and went to the inside of the pod, then turned back again to him, the pod started to turn on as it started to soar without the gate closing, she peeked to see him, "And Flint, I'll be back when you expect it the least and you need me the most. I'll see you soon!" The gate closed.

_**Wooooooooooooosh!**_

The pod soared to the sky getting lost among the night stars; he had water falling down his eyes, he couldn't stop feeling heavy and lonely all over again, he wanted to cry so hard and wake up again as if it was just a stupid dream. He wasn't strong enough…

"_**You know she will come back, right?**_" He turned around when he heard her voice again, finding himself alone.

"I guess so..." He mumbled, "I just feel tired to be fighting like this..."

He turned around and walked away. It didn't take long before his father gave him a call wanting to know what happened… he sadly explained him the situation and how she was gone already, feeling on the other side the discourage on his father to know that his little girl left and he didn't have the chance of saying goodbye! But it was for the best, somehow. It was too bitter for them to do it and she probably wouldn't liked to part from him either.

Regardless the consequences of not returning home now it was night and although his father told him to return soon, he walked away towards the cemetery. He didn't feel anything out of ordinary at all, as if he was entirely alone… he just wanted peace now.

He spent a long time in front of his mother's grave, talking to her sadly, pouring down his feelings and the loneliness coming back and how he had to cope it all over again until she was back – which he didn't know when would that happen, all he knew is that it'd take a long while before they could see each other again. Before he left he started to water some flowers around her grave, something they did a few days ago, having planted some orange flowers in honor to her favorite color. Once finished left the sprinkler to a side starting to get lost again in his thoughts.

_It'll be alright, Lockwood._ He thought quite discouraged at the point he didn't believe it at all, _You'll be alright, she will be back soon and everything will go back to normal!_ Then he realized, now she left everything already got back to normal, there wasn't going to be anything out of ordinary more than his many attempts of inventing something that worked. _Yeah, back to normal… if that means being the lonely outcast of the island again._

A mild wind passed by, waving the tail of his coat softly with melancholy to a side, closing his eyes again he tried to put his mind in blank… he wanted to stop feeling worried for a while and feel everything surrounding him, expand his boundaries again and feel new experiences right there. It was all dark for a long while, then he could see things starting to flicker right before his eyes: tiny sparks of energy surrounding him, coming from some tiny plants, trees and even the ants under his feet, he could _feel _them all. He opened his eyes again, tumbled backwards in surprise, to then smile, "So, this is how you feel things..."

He first sat down, then stood up again cleaning his clothes from the grass, he closed his eyes and went back to the focus state. A lot of other lights were coming to his eyes again, with different sizes denoting how powerful (?) these beings were; taking a deep breath he focused more, feeling where these living beings were located, to then feel something… odd.

There was this shape peeking from behind a tree, the shape was irregular and unstable compared to the others, he didn't know what that meant, neither wanted to find out… could that be the someone who was following them before? Opening his eyes again he turned around, the corner of his eyes caught something hiding behind again. He felt panic…

He felt his breathing quicker, panic invading, he tried to calm down and reassure himself, so slowly he started to move away from there trying to not look as scared as he was.

His instinct was screaming at him.

Problems were coming.

* * *

(1): The original song is from You Are Young by Keane. There will be context in the future.

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**Author's Note****: **Well, this will actually escalate a lot in the next chapter so forgive me for my evilness. If university doesn't kills me before, see ya later.


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